Wayne Coyne, lead signer of The Flaming Lips, whose song Do You Realize?? is the perfect opening track for Christopher Edge’s book.
Photograph: Jonny Weeks for the Guardian

When a Hollywood film director wants to create a soundtrack for their latest movie, they call up John Williams or Clint Mansell, hire the London Philharmonic Orchestra and then hole up in an editing suite for weeks on end to get the final cut right. But when you’re an author all you need to do is open up Spotify to create the soundtrack for your book.

When I was writing The Many Worlds of Albie Bright, I had a soundtrack running through my head, even though the book itself was written mainly in silence, punctuated only by the occasional sound of me banging my head against my laptop keyboard as I cursed myself for writing a novel inspired by quantum physics. These were the tracks that in some way inspired me: a misheard lyric in a song that sneaked its way into a scene, a mood created by a tune that I tried to capture on the page, even a plot twist that somehow sprang fully formed out of a song. Whether you’re a writer or a reader, here’s my rundown of how to design and create your own book soundtrack.

Side one, track one

Just as you want the opening line to hook the reader from the start, the first song on your soundtrack is a mission statement for the book. You want to choose a track that captures its ideas and themes and taps into the emotions you want your readers to feel.

The Many Worlds of Albie Brightis a story about a boy trying to come to terms with the death of his mum and tells how he uses quantum physics to journey to parallel worlds in search of her. For the opening song of the soundtrack I had to choose Do You Realize?? by The Flaming Lips – a beautiful song about the miracle of existence and the inevitability of mortality, shot through with science and wonder.

Atmosphere

I really envy songwriters and musicians their almost supernatural ability to evoke an emotional response not only with lyrics, but also wordlessly with a melody, a key change or a fading chord. There are countless apps that claim to be able to match music to your mood, creating bespoke soundtracks to reflect your emotional state. When you’re creating a soundtrack to a book, the songs you choose need to trace the emotional arc of the story, curating your reader’s listening experience to reflect the characters’ moods. There’s sadness in the pages of The Many Worlds of Albie Bright, but I hope that readers find hope there too and I chose the following two songs to mirror these emotions.

From Carrie and Lowell, an album of songs inspired by the death of Sufjan Stevens’ mother, Death with Dignity is a haunting track that for me evokes the loneliness and loss that the death of a parent can bring.

And in this cover of the Beatles’ classic Across the Universe, the yearning in Rufus Wainwright’s voice reminded me of Albie’s hope and longing as he climbs into a cardboard box to send himself through time and space in search of his mum.

Tarantino your soundtrack

From Stuck in the Middle With You to Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon, Quentin Tarantino is a master at selecting songs that enhance the meaning of a scene. Think about how the songs you choose communicate the themes of your story. For The Many Worlds of Albie Bright, finding a song about quantum physics wasn’t as easy as you might think, but in Schroedinger’s Cat by the Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, the physicist’s metaphorical cat muses on questions of love and mortality.

Albie’s parents are both scientists and when Albie’s mum dies of cancer, Albie tries to use science to undo the tragedy that has taken away the person he loves, a concept realised brilliantly in the music video to The Scientist by Coldplay.

Think about the flow

Just like the book itself you don’t want the soundtrack to your novel to be all one-note. Whether this is a barrage of wall-to-wall bangers or a muesli-crunching, cardigan-wearing cavalcade of confessional singer-songwriters, try to mix things up to create some light and shade in your soundtrack. For example, I don’t want you thinking that The Many Worlds of Albie Brightis a total sob-fest. From a stolen stuffed platypus to a kidnapped psychopathic cat, there’s a lot of humour in the pages of the book and this joyous tune from the Beastie Boys literally soundtracks a pivotal scene in the story.

Theme for an imaginary film

Think about the song that you’d like to hear playing out as the end credits of the film of your book scroll by in a parallel universe. For me, this song was Come Home Baby by The Charlatans, a track described by the Observernewspaper as “both wistful and gloriously alive”. In my mind I hear the lyrics as an ode to a newborn baby. It’s a song I imagined Albie’s mum singing to Albie as he lay in his cot and years later it’s a song that could fuel Albie’s search for his mum through parallel worlds, and maybe even bring him home.